IDF Soldier Seriously Wounded in Training Accident

A soldier sustained serious gunshot wounds during training in northern Israel. Military police are investigating.

By Gabe Kahn.

First Publish: 10/27/2011, 5:20 PM

IDF Medivac Helicopter

IDF Photo

An IDF soldier in northern Israel was seriously wounded Thursday as a result of a gunshot wound to the stomach during training, the IDF spokesperson's office reported.

The soldier received first aid on the scene and was then air-lifted by helicopter to Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat. The soldier's family was notified. Military police are investigating the incident, which is believed at present to be a training related accidental discharge.

Ordinarily the soldier would have been airlifted to Haifa’s Rambam Hospital – the north’s primary level I trauma center – but the mass walkout by medical interns that has crippled Israel’s medical infrastructure has deeply impacted the facility.

According to medical statistics, treatment in a Level I trauma center increases a patient’s changes of survival by 20-25%.

The incident is only the latest in a series of training related gunshot wounds sustained by IDF soldiers in recent months.

In July, a soldier in the Givati ​​Brigade was moderately wounded by gunfire during a live fire exercise in the Golan Heights.

In May, a soldier from the Kfir Brigade suffered moderate injuries during a routine training exercise at the base at Eliakim when he, too, suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. In that case the soldier was airlifted to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.